Prehistoric Downton Abbey: Bronze Age Germans Had Earliest Known Household Staff
The foreign brides imported en masse were also treated as elites, going by their grave goods, but they had lowly local staff buried with nothing
Archaeology
Bone Appétit : Early Humans in Israel Invented Food Storage 400,000 Years Ago, Scientists Find
Earliest sign of hunger anticipation? The hominins living in Qesem Cave in central Israel during the early Palaeolithic preserved marrow-rich bones of fallow deer
Gigantic Prehistoric City Found in Israel During Roadworks
En Esur, with its monumental temple and huge population, was vastly bigger than anything thought possible in the Southern Levant 5,000 years ago
Scientists Find Second Crocodile Species in New Guinea, Thought to Host Only One
Discovery based on skulls sitting in museum for 90 years
Assyrians Came, Conquered, and Kicked Everyone Out: Tablets Reveal 2,700-year-old Relocation
Cuneiform records show land sales 2,700 years ago in Hadid, central Israel, were made to people with entirely foreign names
Rise of Tyranny in Prehistoric Ukraine May Have Killed Off Its Mega-settlements
Over 6,000 years ago, hamlets in the Dnieper Valley coalesced to form giant settlements in which it seems democracy arose far earlier than in Greece - for awhile
Why Archaic Humans in Israel Collected Feathers 420,000 Years Ago
A swan wing found at Qesem Cave has marks that can only be from defeathering: Like among the ancient Owl People of Louisiana, feather-based ritual may have been a mark of respect, says Tel Aviv University’s Ran Barkai
Groundbreaking Israeli Research Reveals What Mysterious Denisovans Looked Like
DNA methylation data allows Israeli scientists to give illustrator a detailed list of the archaic human's characteristics
Archaeology Confirms Book of Genesis on Israel’s Arch-nemesis, the Edomites
Study of ancient copper production sites in the deserts of Israel and Jordan indicates that the nomadic Edomites could and did form a powerful political entity more than 3,000 years ago, as the Bible suggests
What Happened to the Unique Icelandic Walrus? The Vikings Ate It
The smoking harpoon behind the mysterious disappearance of the Icelandic walrus is the timing, archaeologists say: The unique pinniped vanished shortly after the Norse arrived
Archaeologists Find Mass Grave at Nazi Camp in Czech Republic
Remains of Romani adults and children dating back to 1943 were uncovered at the Lety concentration camp, the Museum of Romani Culture says
Neolithic Britons Ate Dairy 6,000 Years Ago, Fossil Tartar Shows
The earliest-ever direct evidence of milk consumption has been found, in Britain – though whether the Neolithic farmers could actually digest the dairy or were stoic about the results of eating it is not clear
Electrician Stops Car on Northern Israeli Road, Finds 4,500-year-old Dagger and Burial Vessels
The items had been in a burial cave dating to the middle Bronze Age
2,600-year-old Seal Bearing Hebrew Name Found at Western Wall in Jerusalem
The seal from Kingdom of Judea was discovered by a volunteer sifting dirt excavated in 2013 from beneath Robinson’s Arch
Ancient Tablets May Reveal What Destroyed Minoan Civilization
The Minoans and their capital Knossos weren’t incinerated by volcanic blast from Thera or flattened by quake as thought, but tellingly: their writing system changed.
Sheep of Skara Brae Have Been Eating Seaweed for 5,500 Years, but Never Learned to Like It
Utilizing seaweed as fodder may have been key to ovine husbandry in prehistoric northern Scotland, and the sheep of Skara Brae in the Orkney Islands just had to adapt
French Neanderthals Had Lots of Kids, Fossil Footprints Show
No less than 257 footprints by Neanderthals were found in Normandy, shedding light on their height, flat feet and predilection for procreation
Israeli Archaeologists May Have Found Emmaus, Where Jesus Appeared After Crucifixion
Exploration of massive 2,200-year-old Hellenistic fort at Kiriath Yearim unexpectedly sheds light on biblical mystery: The true location of Emmaus
Looking Into the Face of Our Oldest Ancestor After 3.8 Million Years
Discovery of crested skull from most primitive australopithecine at the same place and time that the Lucy-type australopithecine walked the earth contradicts the traditional model of linear human evolution
Neanderthals May Have Invented Glue, but That Doesn’t Mean They Were Smart
They may have been as smart as us, or not, but using burned resin to haft weapons turns out not to have been complex process: take bark, add fire on a rock and wait
Luck of the Vikings: Their Arrival Reversed Ireland's Decline, Say Archaeologists
Study debunks notion that Ireland had been populous when the Nordic migrants arrived in the 10th century: The island had been in decline for 200 years by then
Miracle of the Multiplication Mosaic Found on ‘Wrong’ Side of Sea of Galilee
The mosaic in the Burnt Church of Hippos-Sussita shows five loaves and two fish, like the ones Jesus used to feed 5,000 men, but the depicted fish look Nilotic, not local
Earth's Future Is Being Written in Fast-melting Greenland
In just the five days from July 31 to Aug. 3, more than 58 billion tons (53 billion metric tons) melted from the surface
Israeli Village Excavates Itself, Finds Biggest Winery in the Crusader World
King Baldwin III built a castle in Mi’ilya from which he ruled his Galilean lordship in the 12th century. Watching it crumble before their eyes, latter-day villagers teamed up to find the treasures buried beneath their very own homes
Rare Jewel Found on Mt. Zion Reveals Babylonian Destruction of Jerusalem
First Temple-era Jerusalem was bigger than thought, archaeologists say, adding: ‘Nobody abandons golden jewelry and nobody has arrowheads in their domestic refuse’
Gazans Struggle to Protect Antiquities Under Hamas Rule, Israeli Blockade
Remnants of five millennia of history, from the Bronze Age to the Islamic caliphates and on down to Ottoman and British rule, are at risk, researchers and collectors warn
Earliest Form of Writing, a Secret Visual Code, May Have Been Found in Israel
The images in the 6,000-year-old copper hoard from Nahal Mishmar are a code used by Chalcolithic metal workers, one scholar claims. Many colleagues are skeptical
Prehistoric Art or Doodle? 110,000-year-old Engraved Bones Create New Mystery
There’s no question that the bones found in eastern China were deliberately decorated, by some archaic human type. But was it art? A form of early human communication? Or a supremely bored Denisovan doodling?
Goliath’s True Hometown Found? Lost 3,000-year-old Philistine City Emerges Beneath Gath
Massive fortifications hidden beneath previously excavated settlement in southern Israel may have inspired biblical traditions about Goliath and other hulks
Why the Living Across the Ancient World Mummified Their Dead
Perhaps the natural world provided inspiration for the most unnatural custom in human history, culminating in deliberate self-mummification while alive
Beautiful Mosaics and Misspelled Inscriptions Uncovered at Archaeological Site in Northern Israel
Findings discovered in the 'Burnt Church,' which was built in the late fifth century. Ironically, the ash from the church's destruction preserved its artifacts
Court Orders Tel Aviv Municipality to Halt Construction of Homeless Shelter on Muslim Cemetery Grounds
District court calls for talks between Islamic officials and city before final ruling on future of Ottoman-era site, where some 60 graves were found
One of the Earliest Rural Mosques in the World Found in Israel
Built soon after the advent of Islam, the mosque in the Negev town of Rahat indicates how fast the new religion swept through the countryside
Church of the Apostles Found by Sea of Galilee, Archaeologists Claim
A bishop trekking around the lake in 725 saw and described the Church of the Apostles — exactly where this one has been found, archaeologists say
Artifacts From Across Mideast Found in 9,000-year-old City by Jerusalem
New findings show the Motza mega-site was part of a vast network of barter, but huge town may have exhausted its resources very fast